monkey

/ˈmʌŋkɪ/

noun

1.

any of numerous long-tailed primates excluding the prosimians (lemurs, tarsiers, etc): comprise the families Cercopithecidae (Old World monkeys), Cebidae (New World monkeys), and Callithricidae (marmosets) See Old World monkey, New World monkeyrelated adjective simian

2.

any primate except man

3.

a naughty or mischievous person, esp a child

4.

the head of a pile-driver (monkey engine) or of some similar mechanical device

5.

(modifier) (nautical) denoting a small light structure or piece of equipment contrived to suit an immediate purpose: a monkey foresail, a monkey bridge

6.

(US & Canadian, slang) an addict's dependence on a drug

7.

(slang) a butt of derision; someone made to look a fool (esp in the phrase make a monkey of)

8.

(slang) (esp in bookmaking) £500

9.

(US & Canadian, slang) $500

10.

(Austral, slang, archaic) a sheep

11.

(Brit, slang) give a monkey's, to care about or regard as important: who gives a monkey's what he thinks?

12.

(slang) have a monkey on one's back

to be troubled by a persistent problem

(US & Canadian) to be addicted to a drug

verb

13.

(intransitive; usually foll by around, with, etc) to meddle, fool, or tinker

14.

(transitive) (rare) to imitate; ape

Word Origin

C16: perhaps from Low German; compare Middle Low German Moneke name of the ape's son in the tale of Reynard the Fox

1520s, likely from an unrecorded Middle Low German *moneke or Middle Dutch *monnekijn, a colloquial word for "monkey," originally a diminutive of some Romanic word, cf. French monne (16c.); Middle Italian monnicchio, from Old Italian monna; Spanish mona "ape, monkey." In a 1498 Low German version of the popular medieval beast story "Roman de Renart" ("Reynard the Fox"), Moneke is the name given to the son of Martin the Ape; transmission of the word to English might have been via itinerant entertainers from the German states.

The Old French form of the name is Monequin (recorded as Monnekin in a 14c. version from Hainault), which could be a diminutive of some personal name, or it could be from the general Romanic word, which may be ultimately from Arabic maimun "monkey," literally "auspicious," a euphemistic usage because the sight of apes was held by the Arabs to be unlucky [Klein]. The word would have been influenced in Italian by folk etymology from monna "woman," a contraction of ma donna "my lady."

Monkey has been used affectionately for "child" since c.1600. As a type of modern popular dance, it is attested from 1964. Monkey business attested from 1883. Monkey suit "fancy uniform" is from 1886. Monkey wrench is attested from 1858; its figurative sense of "something that obstructs operations" is from the notion of one getting jammed in the gears of machinery (cf. spanner in the works). To make a monkey of someone is attested from 1900. To have a monkey on one's back "be addicted" is 1930s narcotics slang, though the same phrase in the 1860s meant "to be angry." There is a story in the Sinbad cycle about a tormenting ape-like creature that mounts a man's shoulders and won't get off, which may be the root of the term. In 1890s British slang, to have a monkey up the chimney meant "to have a mortgage on one's house." The three wise monkeys ("see no evil," etc.) are attested from 1926.